Anil Kumble retires from test cricket, India’s most successful spin bowler has finally retired at the end of the 3rd Test between India and Australia at the Kotla Grounds in Delhi which ended in a tame draw.

Anil Kumble is the second person to announce retirement, before the series began; it was the swashbuckling Sourav Ganguly who said he would be dropping off his shoes after the series. India is on a verge of another series victory against the Australians if they manage to hold them off in Nagpur.

The 38-year-old Kumble, who ends with 619 wickets at an average of 29.65 continues the trend for retiring in the middle of the series – Sanath Jayasuriya and Stuart MacGill are among others who have done so in recent times – and Mahendra Singh Dhoni will take charge for the fourth and final Test at Nagpur on Thursday.

Rarely has there been a sportsman who has combined flintiness and dignity so adeptly. He was hard, really hard, but utterly fair. Kumble forever walked the line, but rarely if ever crossed it. This was a fiercely proud man. Nor could anybody dispute his bravery, particularly after he came out to bowl with a fractured jaw against the West Indies in Antigua in 2002. He was one of the good guys, and cricket is much the poorer for his departure. For now, however, it is time to celebrate one of the great careers

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